Preschool teachers in Miami are under fire after they allegedly used blackface on a group of toddlers during a Black History Month lesson. Photos from Studio Kids Little River preschool surfaced online after parents received them on the school's messaging app and immediately began reaching out to each other with concern.
"She calls me and she’s like, ‘You won’t believe the photos that were sent to me from this classroom," Courtney Politis, whose 1-year-old attends Studio Kids Little River, explained to NBC Miami about a conversation she had with one mom who received the photos.
The mother called the images 'sickening.'
The photos showed several toddlers apparently playing dress-up, with their faces painted in dark paint, along with the caption "Black history month," according to CNN. The mom who alerted Politis referred to the images as "sickening."
“She told me they painted all the kids’ faces black and said, ‘Happy Black History Month.’ I couldn’t believe it. My brain was malfunctioning," Politis said.
Politis, whose children are biracial, ended up being the one to alert the day care's owner about the situation.
The owner's response was unacceptable.
"'I’m sorry? … I don’t understand. What’s racist? We don’t use those words,’” Politis said owner Patricia Vitale replied, according to NBC News. “And the first response is the real response.”
"You’re a certified, established institutions, you should know better. I mean, ignorance on – about racism in 2023 is no longer ignorant, in my opinion," the mother told CNN.
Vitale issued an apology.
"We have not intended to offend anyone, and we’re very sorry about any inconvenience," Vitale wrote in a statement to parents, according to CNN.
"We wanted to let all the parents know that we met on Friday afternoon with all the teachers and staff. We went over several ethical and multicultural education points," the message continues. "I will teach the team a class covering all the necessary topics regarding US history and multicultural education … you may rest assured this will never happen again."
Politis removed her children from the preschool.
Politis told CNN that her children each attended a different branch of Studio Kids Little River, and she and her husband have pulled both of them from the facilities.
"The bottom line is we can’t trust them with our children all apologies aside,” she said. “I thought we would have more time before these sorts of things or racism or microaggressions would have to be experienced by our children. So the fact that you can’t, I feel like I can’t protect my children from what’s happening is probably the most disappointing and upsetting of all of this."
The incident has sparked outrage online.
Although the photos were sent to parents on February 3, the story of the incident went viral this week, sparking anger and shock across the internet.
"Studio Kids Little River — you are intentionally deleting comments from parents who are concerned. Black people are not dealing with racism quietly," someone wrote on Facebook. "This video is going live everywhere. Your daycare needs to be shut down. It is unsafe for Black, Brown and Indigenous children."
"#Florida has become the de facto epicenter for every imaginable racist thought or action. Who would ever want to raise their children there?" one person tweeted. "The ☀️ has fried their brains. #DeSantisIsAMonster."
